On the side of one of Saint's toes he has a little scrape. He got it a few months ago. It seems like he got it because his toenail is a little crooked and it must have scraped the side of his toe after I clipped it one day. Since I noticed the scrape, I've been super anal about smoothing off his nails after I clip them so this doesn't happen again. The only problem is it seems that every time the little scrape scabs up, he knocks the scab off again running around or on our walks. So it will bleed a tiny bit. It doesn't seem to bother him one bit, but I'd like to see if I can help it heal up for good.

super glue?really? isnt there some chemicals in it though that could get into the blood? I have heard about using it on a broken nail that keeps splitting to make it heal but not a open wound. interesting though.

pinsent wrote:super glue?really? isnt there some chemicals in it though that could get into the blood? I have heard about using it on a broken nail that keeps splitting to make it heal but not a open wound. interesting though.

We've used alot of super glue for wounds on us and on the dogs in a pinch, Turbo got a nasty little cut on his head that just didn't want to quit bleeding, being away from town and well away from the vet we just put a couple drops of super glue in the wound, pinched the edges together and left it alone. When we got back to town we had nearly forgotten about it and within a few days the wound was healing nicely and pushing the little piece of glue up and out of the way as it healed. It burns like mad though so be careful if you choose to go that route and the skin is open. Personally we use it as an emergency backup and not for regular use on the dogs. Us though... Well lets just say that both of us have used it on ourselves several times when a trip to the ER would have probably been a better idea

Superglue was used by trauma surgeons in Vietnam to glue the edges of lacerated livers together (ever try to SEW liver?). Works great. It also works perfectly fine in normal skin wounds, and is non-toxic.The only reason it hasn't been approved by the FDA for this purpose is that the studies would cost millions, and who's going to pay them? Superglue has long since passed off-patent.

I work occasionally at a private research lab which doesexperimental surgical research on animals. In dogs, we had a lot ofproblem with oozing and infection at sites where arterial catheterswere left in. Now we superglue them and all that problem is gone.

The glue doesn't interfere with healing, and it seals excellently. It is as resistent to abscessing as staples, and seals far better. Forwounds in animals which have been anticoagulated, it's a godsend.Survival animals which have catheters pulled later suffer no illeffects, and the wounds heal fine.

I had some liquid bandaid for humans that I tried to put on Ruby's dewclaw that ripped off and it seemed to have burned a lot... That probably was not the correct application tho on a ripped off nail like that...

Please don't use over-the-counter superglue on wounds! The FDA has actually approved a form of superglue for human wounds and another form for veterinary wounds, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea for people to use the stuff at home. Why not?1. the stuff you buy in the store can indeed cause serious local irritation; the medical forms of superglue have different formulations2. most importantly, before sealing any significant wound shut, you first need to clean it extremely well. Otherwise you can create the perfect haven for bacteria and end up with a much more serious problem. Vets offices are set up to clean out serious wounds; most human homes aren't.

Over-the-counter superglue contains ethylcyanoacrylates, which break down in the body to toxic byproducts.Medical superglues contain a slightly different chemical: octylcyanoacrylates, which don't break down into toxic substances.

In technical terms: "Upon application to living tissues (water or base), the monomer undergoes an exothermic hydroxylation reaction that results in polymerization of the adhesive. The shorter-chain derivatives [ie, the over-the-counter stuff] tend to have a higher degree of tissue toxicity than the longer-chain derivatives [ie, the FDA approved medical glues] do.

Inflammation, tissue necrosis, granulation formation, and wound breakdown can occur when cyanoacrylates are implanted subcutaneously. The process causing the histologic toxicity is thought to be related to the by-products of degradation, cyanoacetate, and formaldehyde. The local concentrations of these breakdown products are proportional to the rate of degradation (an aqueous degradation process) of the parent compound. Therefore, slower degradation rates result in less toxicity to the tissues." From eMedicine Specialties > Otolaryngology and Facial Plastic Surgery > PharmacologyWound Adhesives, 2-Octyl CyanoacrylateAuthor: Nathan D Schwade, PhD,http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/874047-overviewUpdated: Sep 17, 2008